Airhunter Assassin
by Metal Flowers
Summary: Max was kicked out of the Flock and immediately accepted into a facility of Assassins who work to take down Itex. Three years later, Airhunter's almost completely won, Max has graduated to top Assassin, and she's made a new family, but will the appearance of the Flock again mess everything up? Adopted by The shadows of old.
1. Chapter 1

I woke up shivering in a cave. Where was the flock? Oh yeah, they… left. All of them. Even Total, though he was understandable. He was Angel's pet after all. A traitorous, backstabbing bitch.

I wonder if they all believed I was a traitor, or if they had their own separate reasons. I think that Nudge did, and Fang. They had this weird glint in their eyes. A glint I only saw in the white coat's or maybe even Brigid's eyes.

A scream escaped my lips as details started slipping into my memory faster. Flickers of the past day made a video for me, going faster and faster until it formed a movie in my mind. I was transported back to the sun filtered forest. It was the perfect weather, for a perfect day. It's just too bad that it was the worst day of my life.

Fang walked up to me, and sat down. I grabbed his hand, but he pulled it away. I looked at him questionably, but he just looked away.

"What's up? What's wrong?" I asked. Confusion and worry was clear in my voice. Fang always reduced me to this. Around him, I was so jumpy. My heart beat fast, I was nervous, and I actually wouldn't have it any other way.

I sighed, and finally looked up, "We, the flock and I, would like you to leave. We think, you are leading the Erasers to us," he paused, gauging my reaction, "We're sorry. We hope you're safe where ever you go. We're sorry."

He made his words unsteady, but his voice was strong. He was faking it and he was barely to hide it. The Fang i knew could lie better than that. He was intentionally letting me see through him. He was purposely hurting me and I would never be able to prove it.

I looked around at the flock, and noticed Iggy missing. He was the type of person that you notice, whether he's there or not.

"Where's Iggy?" I asked. I was distracting myself from what was going on. I knew what I was doing, and wished that I was stronger.

Nudge looked at me disdainfully, "He couldn't bear to see your traitorous face,"

That stung, a lot. A single tear slipped down my cheek. I hated that tear. I wanted them to see strong Max, not weak Max. That was true for all of my life, and this was no exception. Gazzy was upset by my tears, and tried to come towards me. Fang held him back.

I knew that Gazzy wasn't spun in their web of lies. He was still pure. I wondered why he was silent the rest of the time, as he obviously still liked me. I softly smiled at him, and he widely grinned back. Fang glared at our silent exchange. Angel looked, well, blank. Like she was blocking everything out. Maybe she wasn't as far gone as the others. Or maybe she was faking it, like all the others.

I wasn't crushed by this, thanks to Gazzy, and maybe Angel. I was blank, just like Angel.

"Fine then," I said, my voice cracking, "Good bye."

I walked out the door, still blank. The sky surrounded me and caressed my skin as I opened my wings and sprang into it.

_I'm free,_ I realized. I could go anywhere, be anyone.

The Voice, of course, had to butt in, **Y****ou could save the world at your pace with people who will follow you no matter what, at a place I've recently found.**

I didn't want to do anything. I didn't want to save the world. I didn't want to hear the Voice talk. I just lost my family.

** It's an assassin facility called Airhunter. You will meet other mutants, different from yourself, but they will pull their weight, and take some of the weight off your shoulders. They will be your best friends and family, but they are trained killers. You won't have to worry about them.**

**Go to your mom's house first.**

I inhaled sharply. Had the Voice actually messed up and accidently given me information? _What the heck? Mom?_

**As you are no longer with the flock, you wouldn't have found out that Dr. Martinez was your mother, so it is up to me to tell you. Connections are important.**

Oh. Of course, the Voice had to be perfect. The Voice didn't mess up. Everything was always according to plan for him.

**As I said, go to your mom's house. Then, you'll get to Airhunter with the instructions I tell you.**

The voice stopped talking, and I spread my wings. I flew through the air, and using my super speed, landed at Dr. Martinez's house in about an hour. That surprised me. When I landed at Dr. Martinez's house, I couldn't remember flying there. It's like my mind had turned off mid flight. I should be thankful, I guess.

I knocked on her door, and she answered. Her face was surprised to see me. How long had it been since I'd last come here, the time that I had saved Ella? One year? Two?

I studied her face, for the first time categorizing her as my mom. I had her eyes. We both had chocolate brown eyes, the brown in my hair was the same as hers, our facial structure was the same, and I'm sure that I could find a hundred more things that were alike. How had I not seen it before?

Her face widened with a smile, making the miniscule wrinkles disappear. She looked pretty smiling. She should do it more often.

"Mom," I breathed. Her face was now etched with shock. Probably just like mine, but we were in different kinds of shock. Her shock was in joy, me...not so much.

"How do you know?" She asked, just as breathless.

"I have a voice in my head. I think it's transmitted by the school," I told her.

She smiled wistfully, "Jeb never could keep a secret."

"How do you know Jeb?" I asked, instantly on guard. This could be a trap. I wouldn't put it past the School to do that to me.

"Sweetie," she put her hand on my shoulder and I instantly tensed, "He's your father."

"Jeb is…" I trailed off in shock. Well, that certainly _would_ explain things, like his strange, restricted protectiveness.

"Jeb is your father," she said again and opened the door further. She beckoned me inside, "Come in. Ella's home from School today since it's a Saturday."

I nodded and she noticed how tired I was. I guess I showed it too.

"Or maybe you'd just like to sleep first?" she suggested. I nodded sleepily and she led me upstairs. She handed me the large T-shirt with the cartoon character that I didn't quite recognize and some pajama bottoms. She led me to her guest room and laid me down inside it.

"We'll talk when you wake up Sweetie," she said, tucking me in. It was nice, being treated this way. It wasn't the same as being babied. This was being cared for. And since I just found out she was my mom, I could stand to be a little cared for. Especially today.

I sank into oblivion to escape what had happened today. Yeah, I gained a mom, dad, and sister, but I had lost my true family.

I couldn't wait to forget.


	2. Chapter 2

I woke up to the smell of bacon. Still in my blank mood, I headed downstairs. Dr. Martinez was standing by the stove and humming absently to herself when she noticed.

"Hello Max," she smiled at me, "Have a nice night?"

No. It had been plagued by nightmares of the Flock leaving. I shrugged in answer.

"Ella was really excited that you were here, but I made sure that she didn't disturb you while you were sleeping."

"So what happened?" Dr. Martinez was more observant than I gave her credit for. She just gave me time to get myself together.

"My family told me to get lost," I said, depressed. Still, when Dr. Martinez handed me a strip of bacon, I bit down on it like there was no tomorrow.

"That-That's terrible," she said in surprise and compassion. I just shrugged.

"But I need to go now. Jeb said that I'm needed elsewhere." I told her honestly, "Somewhere I'll be able to save the world."

"Max, you know you don't have to, right? You're only fourteen," she said sympathetically.

"Even though I'm only fourteen, every life on this planet rests in my hands. I have to go," I said and gave her a small hug, "Bye."

Without another word, I walked out of the house.

_What now Jeb? I_ asked. He didn't expect me to know where to go right away, right?

It took a couple minutes, but he answered. Finally! I was losing hope. A part of me had just thought that he'd ignore my calls, like usual.

**When you were in the School, we programmed you with the ability to teleport. Just follow what I tell you to do. It's easy, actually. Just say, "I need to go to…" and just fill in where you need to go.**

_And where is that?_ I asked irritably. At least I wasn't acting all depressed now. I wasn't going to let him see me sad.

**It's 101 Aurora Lane**, he answered. That seems like a nice street.

"I need to go to 101 Fake Lane," I said and blinked. When I opened my eyes again, I found myself in a dark alley. Not very good.

The safety of a gun clicked off beside my head and I immediately dropped to the ground. The gun shot and took off a big chunk of the brick wall to my left. Definitely not good.

I tackled the person that tried to shoot me and brought him to the ground. He had hair the color of gold and sky blue eyes, though he had shades to cover them up.

"What's up?" he asked nonchalantly. This confused me to no end. He tries to kill me and then greets me with a 'what's up'? I don't think so.

"What the heck was that?" I snapped at him.

He shrugged under my grip, "It was a test. We can't just let you into the facility without seeing if you'll be good or not."

"I'm tired of tests," I growled at him.

"Okay, no more tests." He tried to placate me, "Just saving the world, 'kay?"

**Max, stop wasting time**, Jeb chastised me, **You can trust this guy. **

_Fine, _I said and got off of the guy. He looked surprised at me sudden release.

"So what is Airhunter?" I asked him. Before answering, he ran his eyes up and down my body.

"I was just checking you for listening devices!" he exclaimed and gestured to his shades. His enthusiasm didn't exactly make me believe him, "These see traces of electronics!"

"Oh," I said in surprise and shoved my hands in my pockets. He once again ran his eyes up and down my body and when he was satisfied that I wasn't a spy or something, he launched himself into explanation.

"Well Maximum," he started, "Airhunter is an assassin facility. Jeb'll free a mutant or two every month and make it look like an accident. We recruit most of those mutants to aid you in your mission to save the world. We bring down Itex leaders and those who spite you. You know Mr. Chu?"

I nodded and he smiled in pride for himself, "I brought him down. And though you've never worked here, you have major street credit there so when you join, you'll immediately be a leader of a team. Well, not immediately. You have to learn how to handle a gun and other weapons we have since our sources tell us that you've never used more than hand to hand combat before, but once you get the basics done, then yeah. You're a leader."

"You talk a lot," I noticed.

"I'm just a bit excited," his eyes were bright, as if they were proving his point, "It's not every day I get to meet the person that Boss said would be to learn how to handle a gun and other weapons we have since our sources tell us that you've never used more than hand to hand combat before, but once you get the basics done, then yeah. You're a leader."

"What's the catch?" I asked the boy. There always was one.

He looked as if this was the question he wished I wouldn't ask, "Um, there are two. One is that you'll have to be put under torture during part of your training and the second is that there's no outside contact with the human world."

"I can handle torture," I smiled lifelessly, "And I guess I can go without calling Mom"

"Then I can't wait to have you as Team Leader, Maximum." He smiled to distract me.

"You're going to be in my team?" I asked him curiously. I guess I wouldn't mind. He was pretty nice and I'd like a chance to get revenge for him almost shooting me.

"Yeah," he smiled good naturedly, "My name is Riley and I'll have your back."


	3. Chapter 3

THREE YEARS LATER

Riley was waiting for me to finish my shower. Thanks to the miracle serum, I could hear him pacing around my room. Fabulous. Since all of the assassins here are mutants, scientists that we have work for us went and came up with a miracle serum. You take it and it improves your sight, smell, and hearing so that everything is crystal clear. Though it's not like he hasn't been in my room before. No, as my boyfriend he's been here a lot. We've never done anything more than kiss, if you can believe it. I'm not the Red Haired Wonder, after all. No, I refuse to think about my life before three years ago. I prefer to think about Riley. I always think about him when my past pops back into my mind.

I started to have a crush on him during my first year of training. I could of course run faster than everyone else. Speed is my power after all. But speed wasn't everything. Caverly, the supervisor of us all, wanted to see how I'd fare in different biomes. We have a room that simulates different places and it's so real that you actually think and feel like you're there, living it. That means splintering hot deserts, underwater (gills, remember?), in an antigravity chamber (we have those), and even on a plane. But that wasn't what I was having problems with. Caverly had placed me in a rainforest biome and I had to just survive for a week. No problem, right? Wrong. He had put malaria infested mosquitoes, piranhas, and even a frikking tiger in the programming! I could handle the mosquitoes with fire and the piranhas by just not going in certain waters, but the tiger took me by complete surprise. It ripped it's claws down my stomach and let me tell you, it hurt like _hell!_

I would have been a goner without Riley. Through all of my training, he stuck with me. He got dehydrated, hurt, and sick just like me. He didn't have to, but he did. He just wanted to help and by the time I started, I didn't mind a bit of help. But that wasn't the thing that made me crush on him. When the tiger had clawed me, Riley had picked me up and took me back to our little cave. It was clear that he knew exactly what he was doing by the way he bandaged my wounds with a bunch of _leaves_!

I didn't go out with him right away of course, I was much too Max for that. I just kept my feelings to myself for half a year. Then one day he was really quiet around me and I thought that he didn't want to be my friend. I got really worried but it turns out that he was just nervous. He was nervous because he was going to ask me out. And then I did something really unlike me. I kissed him on the mouth.

"Yo! Max! Move it!" Riley called from the other side of the bathroom door, his voice muffled. It didn't matter that I was hearing him through a door.

"One minute," I called back. I had just gotten back from a mission that just had to be my all time favorite. I used my specially crafted gun _Cloudpiercer_ to bring him down. I usually shove down my emotions, but the look on his face as he saw mine made me feel so much satisfaction and joy that I may have cried a little. Ugh, when a bit of emotion broke through one of our masks, it usually leaves us worse off than before we locked them away. It's a tidal wave of feeling. The pounding hot water on my back just felt so_ good_!

"Don't make me come in," Riley threatened, "Caverly's pissed 'cause we're late."

"Don't you dare!" I shrieked as the doorknob started to turn. Lightning fast, I grabbed a towel and wrapped it around myself.

He stepped in and stared in surprise at me, "You're not dressed yet?"

"You barely gave me five seconds before coming in!" I threw a hairbrush at him.

"You've been in there for fifteen minutes and as I said, Caverly's pissed," he raised his eyebrow at me, "I am _not_ taking the blame for this one."

I didn't really want to have this conversation with me in a towel. I mean yeah, Riley's my boyfriend, but I was being honest when I said we haven't done anything. He hasn't seen me in anything less than a bikini.

"You know what?" I reasoned with him, "If you get out, I'll get ready and I'll explain to Caverly why we're late."

"Fine," he said with a victorious smile and waltzed out of the bathroom. Cocky bastard.

I blow dried my hair and put it in a pony tail. I dressed in my favorite thing to work in. They were a black cami and dusky black boot cut jeans. I just found them to be the clothes that were easiest to train in and I grew to like them. They blend in well too when I'm out on a mission in the real world. I have little Max followers who wear the same thing. I stuffed my feet into my gray converses and got out of the bathroom.

"Was that so hard?" Riley teased me and I flicked him off.

"Don't ever walk in on me again," I warned him, "Next time I'll hit you and you know that's not an empty threat."

You know the saying 'you hit like a girl'? Well we have a saying here. It's 'you hit like Max' and that's a good thing. I have a mean right hook, that's all I can say.

Riley held up his hands in peace and I kissed him on the cheek, "Good Riley."

I leaned away from him and walked out into the hallway. Unlike what you'd expect, our hallways aren't all business like. Someone before I got here decided to perk up the place a bit so now it looks like a teenager's bedroom. Shiny pitch black floor and florescent green walls. The only things that separate us from a girl's department store are the collection of guns hanging on the walls. Get this kids; we're actually _encouraged_ to play with these! Of course, they're standard issue guns. Guns with special names like mine –Cloudpiercer- are specially made guns.

Since this organization was created to help me on my quest to save the world, I get some special treatment. Most people get one specially made weapon. I have five but I can get a new one when I feel like a change. People enjoy creating specialized weapons and I enjoy wielding them.

Of course, there's Cloudpiercer. It's as white as a picket fence and positively lethal. It was my first weapon that wasn't standard issue. I usually use this gun to shoot because I keep it holstered on my right side. It's also the gun that I use to bring down all the people from my past life that I really dislike; the Director, Ter Bocht, that dude who tried to shoot the Flock and I at that Ariel show, just basically anyone that you can think of. Not Jeb though, not Jeb. Turns out that he's always been working for Airhunter. He has to pretend to capture us so that no one gets suspicious. He's how we know where our targets are.

My other specialized gun is called Thundershot. It's a really shiny black and has a special function that immediately coats the loaded bullets in cobra poison. Badass, right?

I usually only carry around one knife, Dayscythe. It has a plain silver blade (that's made of actual silver!) and an oak handle that's wrapped in leather. It has an electronic current that's not enough to seriously shock me, but it immediately shorts out flyboys and Ari-bots.

And then there's Night whip. It's a sword and looks like it is, scary deadly. It had a blade made of jade that's so sharpened that they don't feel a thing unless I wanted them to. It's handle is made of a strong, white wood. I didn't pay attention to the Weapon Geeks who were explaining it to me; I was too immersed in its beauty. I usually only use it for mercy killings or torture. I like the feel of it so I take it with me wherever I can.

Riley and I walked down the hallway until we reached the training center. Even though we're done with our initial training, we still have to report there every day that we're not on a mission. We run through and obstacle course and then spend the rest of the time training the newbies. Sometimes we put them in the biomes and sometimes we give them a walkthrough first. It just depends on what mood we're in.

Caverly greeted us with a hard expression, "Why are you two late?"

His angry, clipped words seemed to rain on Riley's parade, since he's used to respecting them, but I just shrugged them off. I've had enough really bad things happen to me that make this look like a piece of pie.

"My team and I just got back from a successful mission this morning and I needed to take a shower and put away my clothes." I told him calmly. It's the truth and he can sense that. Well, I'm pretty sure he can. It's just that he never shows his mutant form, so he may be one of the few humans that work here. He doesn't tell anyone and we respect him enough not to ask. He keeps everyone else in line and if he's human or not, he's good at what he does.

"Well, while you were out another team dragged in some mutants with potential," Caverly said gruffly, "We decided to leave it up to you to sort them out."

"You say that like it's going to be a difficulty," Riley snickered. Again, he's a cocky bastard. That's why I love him.

I face-palmed myself when I realized the obvious conclusion of where Caverly was edging around, "Did Maya get a mind sweep again?"

One of the other senior assassins was my clone. She trips up sometimes, though. When she does, it's hell for everyone. The part of Itex that's still standing keeps targeting me because I'm the figurehead and they always manage getting Maya instead. When they realize that it's not me, they try to sweep her memories and get her to work for _them_ instead. It works for a bit but then we inject her with a base that counteracts the poison that keeps part of her mind locked up from her.

"No, it's not Agent Maya," he surprised me, "I don't feel like being shot today when you have one of your little fits, so you can see for yourself. Room 2A."

He was right. Whenever I hear something I really don't like, I shoot the nearest thing. It's like in those bad action movies except it actually happens. I shot Caverly in the leg on two occasions and Riley in the arm on one. I wonder what it is that makes Caverly think that'll happen.

Curious, I headed to room 2A. Riley either wasn't afraid of being shot or he didn't think it'd happen because he came with me.

"Maybe you'd better give Thundershot to me," Riley held out his hand, "I don't really want cobra venom in me today."

Sighing, I handed him the gun. He had some sense at least. If he asked for Cloudpiercer, I'd have tore off his balls and made him eat them, boyfriend or not. No one touches my best gun.

After Riley had put it in a small cubby that we keep in the training hallways, I headed into 2A. When I saw the people that were in there, I immediately pulled out Cloudpiercer and shot something blindly to my right. I heard glass break and someone curse.

"Only a window," Riley said in relief.

I didn't say anything because now the people were staring at me. At least they didn't see the shock that was on my face. Years of being an assassin trains you to never show your emotions. Only Riley can read me. You know, except when I go berserk and shoot something; then everybody can read me.

The Flock was here, staring at me. Some with shock and some with hatred in their eyes. Only one face didn't register anything but confusion. Iggy couldn't tell why everyone in the room had stopped breathing all at once.

"Hello Flock," I kept my voice neutral, barely avoiding choking in shock, "Welcome to Airhunter."


	4. Chapter 4

Iggy gasped, "Max?"

"No, it's her evil clone," I said sarcastically before I realized that he might actually believe me, thinking I was Maya, "Of course it's me, dumbass."

"Max, calm down." Riley put his hand in my shoulder. I took a deep breath.

"Why are you here?" I would've preferred to say 'Why the hell are you here' or 'get out of my sight'.

"We got recruited by some chic named Roxanne." Nudge said scornfully, "What's it to you?"

"Roxanne, of course." Riley rolled his eyes, "First real mission and she brings back these twits."

I glared at Nudge, "What's it to me? Well, this organization was created for me, I'm the best damn assassin alive, and you're a bunch of traitors that just walked into my home."

"Best? I doubt that," Fang snorted, "Poor wittle Max couldn't hurt a fly."

I took out Cloudpiercer and aimed it at him, "You wanna bet?"

Instead of killing him like I could have, I shot him in the leg. He wasn't getting off that easy.

"Gazzy and Angel, you're the only ones that I don't think completely stabbed me in the back. Get behind me." I ordered, "And even if you did, I don't hurt children."

Angel and Gazzy did as I requested and I leveled my gun at the rest.

"Anyone else have any comments?" I growled.

"Max," Iggy said again, "You're not dead."

"So?" I spat at him. Nudge elbowed him but Iggy kept talking.

"They told me that you were," Iggy was mystified, "You've been dead for three years."

I listened to his heart rate an breathing. They were steady. He wasn't lying.

"Well, Iggy. Here's what happened. The Flock kicked me out." I said maliciously. It was weird, but since he wasn't lying I couldn't hold it against him. He has literally no idea of this.

"What?" Iggy said, appalled. He was displaying all of the correct emotions. He passed my test.

"Riley, I want you to take the kids and Iggy out." I ordered.

"The little girl's hurt," Riley informed me. Immediately, I brought out some steel rope and tied Fang and Nudge to a chair.

After they were secure, I hurried over to Riley. He was holding Angel's arm.

"Her arm's broken and she's not responding." he told me. His voice was worried, which surprised me.

"She's not responding because she's asleep," I guessed.

Gazzy butted in, "She doesn't talk anymore. She's always quiet and she never tries to do anything."

"We need to get her to Whisper, ASAP," Riley said. It was unnecessary. I had already picked up Angel and was hurrying out the door.

"I'll watch the twits, you take care of them," Riley told me.

Gazzy and Iggy followed me as I sprinted down the hall. They had to hurry to keep up.

"How long has she been like this?" I asked.

"Since the day they kicked you out," Gazzy told me right away, "I've been really worried about her but no one did anything."

"Fuck," I cursed, "Three years? How did she survive?"

I knew what was happening. It rarely happened, but it did. It only happened with mind readers and future seers. They get sucked into the minds around them or the future and they lose connections with reality. They forget to eat, to sleep, and in extreme cases- to breathe. Angel had hung in there, but she was losing herself fast. She was unnaturally light in my hands.

I burst into the infirmary, "Whisper! Help!"

Whisper was the healer on my team. She had shiny black hair with purple hues, amethyst eyes, and was really thin. Like a ghost or a witch. Maybe a cross between the two.

"What is it?" she whispered worriedly, alerted by my panicked tone. She's only heard me as murderous or blank.

"This little girl's a mind reader. She got sucked in a few years ago," I said urgently, "We're losing her fast."

"Years? Some don't last two weeks," she mumbled, "You're going to need to help me on this. You know her?"

I nodded and Whisper dragged me into her private office. She's the best healer this facility has. Gazzy and Iggy stayed outside.

"I need you to connect her to that IV over there," she waved her hand in the direction of an IV.

I laid Angel on a metal hospital bed beside the IV and connected the tube to her wrist.

"Oh Angel," I sighed, "I should've taken you with me."

Her eyelids fluttered at the sound of my voice. Whisper noticed.

"She's grounded a bit now. Keep talking." she ordered.

"Uh, you're at Airhunter now. I've worked here for a few years. I've taken down a lot of people who bothered us. Ter Bocht, Anne, The Director, just anyone you can think of. My boyfriend Riley took down Mr. Chu. I figured out that Jeb was actually on our side. I think that you might've known that too, right?

"It's a pretty big coincidence that you blanked out the day that I got kicked out. We don't really believe in coincidences here. Some people think that something really big can make this happen. I'm sorry for what's happened to you. You're such a sweet girl. You know my clone Max II? Well she's good now. She works here too." I blathered.

"She's a powerful mind reader all right," Whisper chuckled while looking at her machinery. I wondered what she could see.

I nodded and kept talking. I told Angel about the people on my team. Whisper went and placed her hands over Angel's forehead, bringing her back.

"Whisper is on my team. She's the one that's helping you now. And there's Thunder. She's our tech. She's the one who hacks into buildings to disable the locks and cameras and warn of us anything. Riley's on my team too. He's my right hand man and maybe in a few years, he'll be on my left hand too. I know that you would want to hear this because you were always trying to match me up with Fang or Dylan. You just want me to be happy. Speaking of Dylan, we crossed paths. He came to work for Airhunter. He was on my team, but he took a bullet for me. He...died."

Angel opened her mouth to say something and found herself unable to. She used mind speak. _You sound happy_.

"I am." I chuckled, "I don't think that anyone at Airhunter has heard me like this."

_Why?_

I sighed, "It's difficult to explain. Here, I can't show my emotions. I have to be strong all the time. Others have to see me strong all the time. Otherwise, we'll all die."

"Just as long as you're happy on the inside, I'm fine with it." Angel yawned and fell asleep.

I sighe and ruffled her hair, "You're a good kid Angel, you'll come through this."


	5. Chapter 5

"She's stable," Whisper said after taking yet another sample of Angel's blood. Whisper could just heal her with her powers, but she likes to make sure that everything's good and dandy with her machines.

"Good," I breathed a sigh of relief. Angel was my baby. I didn't really care what she did in the past because she had made up for it in the past three years. To live only in other people's lives, it must be horrible.

Whisper tapped me on the shoulder to get my attention, "May I ask why you are so attached to this little girl? This seems like more than your average pity case."

"I bonded with her before I came to Airhunter," I answered honestly. It was never a good idea to lie to Whisper. She can ferret out anything, "I raised her."

"You never do talk about your life before you came here," she noticed.

"I prefer to think that my new life doesn't have to have anything to do with my old," I answered.

Whisper hesitated, "She's too young to stay here. She's a child."

"I know," I sighed, "She'll be taken to the care unit and be stuck in child care. I'll barely see her."

A knock on the door interrupted us. Cautiously, I went to open it. Outside stood Thunder with all of her equipment on her belt. She's my team's tech geek. Her short size, curly blond hair, and light green eyes all compliment her peppy attitude.

"I just happened to be linked into Airhunter's surveillance feed and stumbled across your predicament," she smiled cheerfully and flipped her blond hair, "Because you see, Whisper is able to take on an apprentice."

"That doesn't mean that Angel will be able to heal," Whisper protested, "Not many can."

"She managed to heal herself," I said, "I mean, how else would she have been able to deal with this for so long?"

Thunder's blue eyes flashed with victory, "So ha! Whisper, take Angel on as apprentice!"

"Maybe," Whisper rolled her eyes, "We'll see."

"Now shoo," I pushed Thunder out of the room, "You're too loud. You'll wake Angel."

"Okay. Call me when our next mission arrives." She waved and disappeared from my view.

"Oh, I forgot to ask her something," Whisper said suddenly and tailed Thunder. So I was alone with Angel in the healing room.

I was too late throwing Thunder out to let Angel rest, however, as Angel was sitting up in her bed. She was rubbing her eyes sleepily.

"Hey Max," she greeted, "I need to tell you something."

"I think you need to rest," I tried to push her back down on the semi-hard mattress.

"No, I have to tell it to you." She protested, "It's about Omega."

"Don't worry," I rolled my eyes, "We're tracking him down as we speak."

Angel shook her head, "No! It's that he has Ella!"

I stopped trying to put the blanket on Angel and froze, "What?"

"Two weeks ago," Angel grabbed my shirt sleeve, "I was almost fully conscious then because sometimes I'll fight and end up out of the trance thing that I was in. But anyway. Omega came to your mom's house and stole Ella. He thought that'd lure you out of wherever you were because it worked last time with your mom."

"Fuck," I cursed, "Do you know where they are?"

"I think he said something about 'finishing this where it started'." She sounded doubtfully, "Or something like that."

"Damn, he must mean Germany," I said spitefully, "I'm banned from that country."

Angel looked at me questioningly but I shook my head, "Long story, I'll tell you later."

I picked up Angel and carried her out of the healing room. I found Iggy and Gazzy outside in the waiting room.

"She's better." I notified them, "How long were we in there?"

"Three days," Gazzy complained, "These chairs are really uncomfortable."

"And have you ever sat beside Gazzy for three days straight?" Iggy demanded playfully, "Ever sat beside the _Gasman_ for that long?"

"Well, unless you want to hang out with the traitors…" I let my voice trail off. We were alone now, so I could afford to joke around a bit. I didn't have to keep up appearances.

"I'd prefer not to," Iggy's voice barely restrained his anger at them, "God, I wondered why they never grieved for your death. They were always too busy sucking faces."

"Hm, I didn't see that coming," I raised my eyebrows. Fang and Nudge. Huh, "They deserve each other."

"They're not that bad," Angel tried to make peace. I could see in her eyes that she didn't believe her words, though.

Gazzy shook his head, "You were never really there to see what they did. They let us starve while they went on dates. They'd only protect themselves during a fight. And when you were really out of it, they'd hurt you. Badly."

"Oh fuck," I cursed, "They're child abusers to?"

On a whim, I brought them to my room. At least I didn't have bras everywhere; I kept my room cleaner since Zac has started coming.

"Where are we?" Iggy asked as he started trailing his fingers across all of my furniture, getting a feel of the room.

"My room," I answered, "Make yourself at home for the next couple hours, or days. I have work to do and it's dangerous for you to wander the halls here. We don't want a bullet through one of you guys, now do we? There's enough food in the mini-fridge for a week but if you need more, just press the red button on the wall beside it. The bathroom's through the door to your right and two of you'll have to share the bed since the only other thing I have is a couch."

"You're leaving?" Gazzy asked curiously.

"Well yeah," I was surprised at his question, "I'm not just a figurehead. I actually work here."

"Are you going to get Ella?" Angel asked innocently.

I sighed heavily, "Hopefully, Angel. Hopefully."

As I was walking out the door, I called, "And don't play with the guns!"

I closed the door and strode over to the training room reserved for my team and I. Once inside, I pressed a silver button marked 'assemble'. Almost immediately, a single buzz went through my wrist communicator. That's the signal to meet here, and it made the team's wrist cuffs vibrate.

Thunder was the first to enter, "Hey Max. I told you to call me when you had the mission, but I didn't think it'd be so soon."

Whisper quietly came in the door, "What's the mission?"

"You'll see," I replied shortly.

Riley came in next, "Sorry it took me so long. It took some time to find someone that'd be able to restrain the Flock."

"Who'd you choose?" I asked curiously.

"Moonlight," he answered immediately. He already knew that I'd ask, "She's merciless, so I was assured that she wouldn't let them free."

"Good choice," I smiled blankly at him. I was being professional now since we weren't alone.

"Thanks boss," he smiled more freely.

The last member of my team came inside. Her wound on her arm was healing nicely, I noticed. Her gauze wasn't bloody at all. She gave me a respectful nod before sitting down.

"It healed?" I asked. The mission would have to be put off until she was better if she wasn't already. That wouldn't put me in a good mood.

"Barely a mark now," my clone, Maya, smiled in pride, "I guess I heal faster than the rest of you."

Maya had been on my team since the start, though it didn't turn out that well at first. Caverly stuck her on my team and we quarrelled, until we found a common enemy. She'd been trying to seperate me from the Flock, since the Flock had been dragging me down. I agreed, and then we worked along well. Now, we were close friends. I even let her drag me to malls every once in a while.

"It's been a week," Thunder rolled her eyes, "Healing a gunshot wound isn't that difficult."

"Especially not if I was healing it," Whisper chuckled. She looked like she was in a good mood today.

"Quiet," I ordered and sat down at the head of our dark gray conference table. It was a small table and only had room for us.

They each took their seats; Whisper and Riley flanked me, and Thunder and Maya sat beside them.

I crossed my arms, "A hostage situation has been recently brought to my attention."

"How does this involve us?"Whisper asked quietly.

"The kidnapper is Omega. He kidnapped a girl in hopes to lure me out." I answered. The faces around me filled with interest.

"Who is the hostage?" Riley asked me inquisitively.

I turned to Thunder, "I need you to print a picture of an Ella Martinez of central Arizona."

Thunder instantly brought out her computer and searched. I peaked on the screen. After three seconds, she found a clear one of her walking down the street.

"Hispanic?" Thunder clarified.

I nodded, "That picture will do, but can you also find a school photo?"

Thunder nodded and found what I asked for. A second later, the printer in the corner of our room buzzed and spat out several different pictures of Ella.

"This is the hostage," I said and passed out the photos.

"Don't you need to see them?" Whisper asked me, noticing that I didn't have any photos to study.

"Wait a minute," Maya stared at the picture of Ella, "Haven't I seen this girl before?"

"Why is this girl important enough that Omega thinks it'll lure you out?" Riley asked in slight confusion.

Thunder was doing a background check on Ella, "Her mother is a single parent by the name of Valencia Martinez. Valencia is a founder of CSM, an eco-friendly company that Maximum Ride sponsors. She was reported missing from her home two weeks and one day ago."

"So he kidnaps the daughter of the woman who Max works with," Whisper contemplated, "Did you used to be friends or something?"

"Something like that," I remarked dryly. They'd have to know sooner or later. It was stupid for me to ever think otherwise. "She's my sister."

There was silence before Riley asked, "You have a sister?"

"How did we not know this?" Maya asked questioningly, "I mean, why we didn't come across this online?"

"You should know why," I said, irritated, "Files and data on members of Airhunter are erased upon arrival so that important information doesn't leak. You barely know anything about my life before here. Ella is a part of my old life."

"That's where I saw this girl before," Maya realized, "It was in preparation for me to replace you. I had to know about Ella."

"Nice to know," I cut her off. We didn't have time for stories and memories now, "We need to put our plan into action immediately. Omega kidnapped her two weeks ago; his patience must be wearing thin."

"So tonight?" Riley suggested.

"Yes," I confirmed, "Tonight, we'll head to Germany. Bring your best weapons and a clear mind. That's all we need. Now go pack. I'll clear it with Caverly. Dismissed."

This is how a leader here needs to act. Distant, but encouraging. Close, but not too close. Professional. That was my mistake with the Flock. I lead with my heart, not my head. That's one of the things that have changed in three years.

They left the room silently. They were already preparing for our mission. Their footsteps were soundless, their voices were muted, and their bodies were coiled up and ready to spring.

I followed them out the door, just as noiseless. They headed towards the living areas, but I went towards the training room. That's where Caverly should be.

I was right. He was right in the middle of the obstacle course, shouting at a lean girl. I recognized her by her green and blue hair. She wasn't a newbie, so she must've done something to piss Caverly off.

"Hey M&M," I called as I got close. Caverly gave me an irritated glance.

"Caverly, I need clearance to go on my next mission," I told him, "It's a hostage situation."

"Who's the captor and who's the hostage?" he inquired.

"Omega's the kidnapper and Ella Martinez is the captive." I answered.

"Martinez?" he raised his eyebrows, "Can you separate yourself from your emotions of her?"

"I'm Maximum Ride, Caverly." I narrowed my eyes at him, "I can do anything."

"Then you have my clearance," Caverly nodded.

"Thanks, I guess." I turned and started to walk out of the training center.

"M&M! Get your ass moving over the frikkin sand pit!" he shouted at her. I snorted. M&M's weakness was reptiles. She couldn't stand to look at them or she'd stiffen up.

Our sand pit was her worst nightmare. It's inhabited with Inland Taipan snakes which –to some- are considered to be the third most poisonous snakes in the world. They were all we could get our hands on, so we were content with just the third venomous. We do release some other snakes into the pit, but they don't usually survive.

We don't want weaklings here, so if you get bit by a snake, it's too freaking bad. Deal with it or haul yourself over to a healer.

I laughed once as M&M ran through the sand pit, her eyes fresh with determination. This is why I liked that girl. She wasn't a weakling.


	6. Chapter 6

I hustled back to my room and found the others gone. They were nowhere to be found.

"Shit," I cursed, "I do _not_ have time for this today!"

Hopefully, someone else will find them before they get shot or tortured or captured. I changed into some new work clothes that Maya had picked out for me. It was a dark brown tank top and skinny jeans.

"I can work with this," I said in approval. It wasn't too different from my normal outfits, but I lost a bet with Maya. She gets to dress me for the rest of the week as her reward. At least she realized that today wasn't a time to mess around with me.

I put my long brown and blond hair into a ponytail and slid on a necklace that had become my good luck charm on missions. Angel had given it to me when we all turned a year older. It was the bottom of a snake's jaw and the jaw was surrounded by two of my longer feathers.

A message appeared on the messaging screen beside my microwave.

**Ten minutes until your plane leaves, Maximum. Don't forget to collect your weapons!**

"As if I would," I snorted as I loaded Cloudpiercer into my belt. I brought out my black duffel bag that I use to transport my stuff during missions and loaded an extra pair of work clothes, Dayscythe, Thundershot, and Nightwhip into it. _Maybe it's time for me to get a new weapon_, I mused, _Oh, maybe some chakrams. They look cool…Focus!_

I zipped up my bag and ran to the loading center, where my team and private jet was waiting. Of course, we have a private jet! This is an assassin organization funded by Jeb and a bunch of other rich people!

"Right on time as always," Thunder greeted me as I stepped onto the plane.

"Hello Thunder," I greeted politely as I dumped my duffel bag onto the seat beside Maya.

"We were starting to worry that you weren't going to show," Maya laughed girlishly.

"I don't know why you did," I rolled my eyes, "I always do."

"Hello ladies," Riley smiled from the pilot's seat, "My name is Riley and I'll be your magnificently handsome pilot today and if you want some airplane snacks, go get them. You have frikkin legs."

Thunder laughed at his introduction, and I felt uncomfortable. She'd been flirting with him recently, since she didn't know we were going out. She always laughed at his jokes, touched him lightly at random moments, and always found extra time to hang out with him. "We'll be landing in about three hours," Whisper informed me, "And it looks like you need some rest. Go to sleep."

"That's a great idea, Whisper," Maya said as I was about to disagree, "I think that I'll get some rest, too!"

"I don't want-" I objected as someone gave me a mind jab so powerful, I was instantly unconscious.

MAYAPOV

When Max instantly fainted in the middle of her sentence, we were all immediately on alert. Riley was busy flying the plane, so that meant I was in charge now. Something probably attacked Max and we needed to deal with it.

"Thunder, cover Riley's back," I ordered, "We don't want our plane crashing in the middle of freaking New York."

"Yes ma'am!" Thunder obeyed and stood behind Riley, her specialized gun that emits a high frequency that hurts the target as well as pierces him with a bullet.

"No, it's okay," Max groaned as she woke herself up, "The Voice in my head just found a non-painful way to communicate with me."

"It's not efficient," Thunder pointed out, "What if you faint in the middle of a mission?"

"I won't," she promised, "The Voice told me I'd be able to hold it back for about two hours."

"So you won't be sent to the infirmary for your mind splitting headaches anymore?" Whisper chuckled quietly.

"Nope," Max chuckled. We all loosened up, put our guns away, and sat back down.

She looked at me, "How did you do while in charge?"

"I guessed that something had attacked you, so I had Thunder guard Riley. I didn't want the plane crashing because we were without a pilot." I answered honestly.

"Quick thinking," she complemented me, "If we all survive, I'm raising you up to senior assassin."

"I thought I already was," I said in confusion.

"In a way," she said hesitantly, "Now remember, you can choose to accept this or not. You've proven yourself to be able to think on your feet, choose the best decisions, and you will take a shot even for people you don't know and never will know. I've been considering this for awhile and I believe that you're ready to lead your own team."

She looked back at me, searching my eyes for my answer. What the hell? I've been on her team for three years! She's not getting rid of me that easily!  
"Thanks but no thanks," I smirked, "This is my team and I follow you."

"Amen to that!" Thunder leaned back and gave me a high five. I accepted it.

"Thanks for staying Maya," Max said in relief, "You're my best friend and a sister to me, but your leadership abilities are so expanse that I felt that I needed to give you the chance to spread your wings."

"Max," I laughed, "Your team is made of the élite. We go on the most important missions. We rescue important people. I think I stretch my wings enough."

"Fair enough," Max was pleased at my answer, "But if you ever feel that you've changed your mind…"

"Don't worry Max," I chuckled, "You're not getting rid of me that easi-"

That was when the bullet pierced my lung.


	7. Chapter 7

Maya had just declined my promotion and was chuckling quietly. She was laughing at the very thought of leaving the team.

"Don't worry, Max," she smiled, easy going, "You're not getting rid of me that easil-"

Suddenly, she pitched forward and crashed onto the ground gasping. Really? She was shot _this _early into the mission? That had to be a record for her. Heck, that had to be a record in all of Airhunter! I knelt beside Maya and held her down. Maya's flailing wasn't going to help anything.

"Whisper," I commanded, "Heal Maya. Our welcome party just arrived."

Maya was gasping in pain. The bullet really did some damage if Maya was in this much hurt. She usually had really high pain tolerance. I held Maya down while Whisper took the bullet out.

"Stop being an idiot and faint already," I commanded her. God, I don't have time to wait around for her to knock herself unconscious. I put her into a strong chokehold. Maya lasted about twenty seconds –twice the usually time- before going limp. I left Whisper to work from here and stood back up.

"Who shot Maya?" Thunder demanded, "Bullets shouldn't have been able to pierce the plane, right?"

"Actually, that could happen. But I don't see any place where the plane's skin has been punctured…" I searched the wall of the plan, making sure to be thorough in my search. Even if I didn't see it, I was almost sure that someone had shot Maya from outside. I don't think we had a stowaway on board, and even if we did we would have heard the gun click.

"Found it," Whisper said quietly. She was at the opposite side of the plane of me, "And I think we have a problem."

"How big of a problem?" I asked warily. Problems that Whisper found ranged from deadly to world last time Whisper had a problem, we found a mutant spider the size of a minivan, and it was hungry.

"The bullet went through a window and somehow didn't blow it out. The window decided that it is going to blow really soon. Like, in thirty seconds soon." Whisper informed me.

"Better news than I thought it'd be," I smirked. and picked up Maya's body. Why was it always Maya that was shot? Was it because I was the real target and she was just a look alike, or did she have really bad luck?

"I'm going to open the door," I warned them, "Prepare to be sucked out."

In my opinion, it was better to be sucked out a door than a window. And even though the window is already going to blow, I like to have a handle on things. I braced myself, held Maya tighter to myself, and opened the door. Immediately, I was sucked out of the plane and began to freefall. Making sure that no one was about to crash into me; I opened my wings and controlled my drop to the ground.

Using her hummingbird wings, Whisper sped up to me, "I did a small perimeter check. Omega is waiting for you in a field straight ahead. What should we do?"

"Thunder is going to guard Maya somewhere safe while she moniters the conversation from a distance away. Maya's tough and she'll hang in there, so you'll come with Riley and I in case your needed." I decided. I passed Maya's prone body to Thunder and repeated the message. Thunder still had her equipment because she always carried it all on her belt.

"See you later," Thunder said before using her hawk wing's natural strength to fly away a little ways.

"Now what?"Riley asked me, "Do we meet Omega head on?"

"No other way to meet him," I said simply, "He shot our plane. He saw it go down. He knows we're here."

I steadied myself and aimed my wings in the direction that Omega was waiting. I should've killed him back in Germany. The worm has been causing trouble ever since then.

Ever since he disappeared off the grid from the Germany episode, he's been doing things that have him written on our kill list a thousand times. He's been kidnapping kids and grafting wings onto their backs. He's trying to find out what went wrong with Ari. He'll bust in on our missions and either send each of them crawling back home or worse- in a body bag.

"We're gonna make this bastard pay," I growled before launching myself into the clearing.


	8. Chapter 8

I landed into the clearing, straight across from Omega. The bastard hadn't aged a day. Whisper and Riley landed about ten feet behind me. As much as I wanted to shoot him down right here and now, I couldn't. He was a competent opponent and either of us could go down in this fight. That's the downside to being a top level assassin; you weren't sent to take down the mindless goons.

"Hello Maximum," Omega greeted me pleasantly, "What a surprise to see you here!"

"Where is my sister?" I growled, "Where did you put her?"

"Oh, she's probably dead." Omega chuckled, "Did you really think that I would keep her alive?"

"Yes," I replied, "I do. And I'm going to beat the hell out of you when I win this fight."

"Three on one?" Omega smirked, "You thought I'd come into this fight alone? If so, you were very wrong. Come out girls!"

Two girls stepped out of the line of trees and stood respectively behind Omega. These were obviously his minions. They were here to distract Riley and Whisper.

One girl had pale skin, shiny white hair, and fangs. I easily identified her as a snake mutant. Maybe a mamba snake, though I couldn't be sure.

The other girl had bone white skin, dead black eyes, and shiny yet course black hair. Eight limbs grew out of her back. This one was something I had never seen before, yet I knew exactly what she was supposed to be. She was a spider mutant. We had no info on how to bring those down, so she had the advantage.

"These are my girls, Jena and Senna. Now, who makes the first move?" Omega deliberated. He would make the first move, of course. My team had limitless patience. Now, what do I know about Omega? Information on him was limited only to what I had experienced and his crimes. What I knew what that he was an excellent fighter, had strong bones, could not see fast moving objects, and was a large show off.

"I think I will," Omega smirked. He did a front flip to close th gap in between us and threw a punch at me. I twisted out of the way and aimed a high kick at his face. The next punch he served was too quick for me and I didn't have time to dodge. His powerful fist connected with my arm, fracturing it. With a growl of outrage, I tried to head butt him. He dodged this. He threw a punch at my face and I ducked out of the way. He had anticipated this, however, and stuck out his leg in a graceful ark that connected with my ankles, knocking me off balance.

I hit the ground and gasped deep breaths of air. Damn, he got better. I smirked and jumped back up again.

"Tired yet?" Omega taunted. I wouldn't let him get to me. While he taunted me, I regained my breath.

He shouldn't have let me rest. I threw a flurry of punches and kicks that forced him to retreat a few feet. I felt something snap and noticed blood on his face and my hands.

"Shit," he cursed and tried to block my attacks. Not going to happen. I hooked my right leg around his knees and pulled. Caught by surprise, he fell to the ground. I pushed him fully down to the ground and inserted my knee into the small of his back.

"Serve you right, you bastard," I hissed in his ear. I took out a pair of handcuffs from my belt and cuffed him to a pipe that was poking out of the ground. There was always something available to use, you just had to look.

I surveyed my teammates. Whisper had been bitten by the snake and it seemed to have affected her but not by much. Whisper was healing herself so there was almost no lag in her movements. However, she wasn't very skilled in fighting. She didn't participate in the battles unless she had to. Riley ,on the other hand, was on the offensive and the spider woman was trying in vain to free herself from him.

I aided Whisper in her fight. If I didn't, she'd be reptile food.

"Omega restrained?" she asked breathlessly when I joined her.

"Yep," I replied as I struck the girl across the face. She hissed.

"You bitch!" the snake snapped and dove forward. Her fangs pierced my neck and I fought to keep from screaming.

I failed, "Ngh!"

Her venom tried to paralyze me, but I fought it off for as long as I could. This girl's only real strength was the ability to rid us of ours. I pushed her to the ground and collapsed on top of her, leaving Whisper to cuff her.

Riley ran up while dragging the spider woman behind him. She sneered at us in cold silence. She'd be brought into the lab for observation. The others would either be kept in our high security cells for the rest of our lives or be killed.

I could no longer feel me arms which was a relief and a curse. My shoulder had hurt like hell since it was dislocated, but I'd rather feel pain than numbness, "Damn. Whisper, could you heal me?"

"Of course," she said before making her hands glow a soft purple and placing it over my arms. First I cringed when the numbness went away, but then Whisper fixed my shoulder as well. Healers definitely had their benefits, and Whisper was the best damn healer we have.

"I'd _love_ to keep standing here, but can we just bring these criminals back to Airhunter?" Riley complained, "Max, you know I love you but this is terribly boring."

"Fine," I rolled my eyes, "But first…"

I pulled out my _Thundershot_ gun and shot the snake girl. My bullets were coated in the same venom she had injected me with.

"Have a taste of your own medicine, _bitch_!" I snarled at her.


	9. Chapter 9

We entered the cool, air conditioned hallways of Airhunter with Omega, the spider woman, and the snake in tow behind us. A cheer went up through our welcoming party as they saw Omega's beat up face.

There were a few old friends and a few initiates that I'm sure Caverly would like me to help train, either because of their obstinacy or their special powers. M&M was there, as well as a few others who had pissed me off recently. There was one girl who was completely silent and reserved, but I didn't know who she was.  
"Who are you?" I asked her bluntly. She had long black hair and golden eyes and looked to be about my age.

"I'm just a new initiate," she smiled humbly, "My name is Shimmer."

"Well then Shimmer," I tested her name out, "I look forward to overseeing your training."

"Hey! Take your mind off work for a second!" Maya crowed, "We got the bastard!"

"You get shot this time, Maya?" M&M asked cheekily. I wouldn't be talking since I could see snake bite marks on her arm. She must've gotten bitten during her last practice.

Maya blushed, and Thunder cut in, "She got shot before we even got off the plane!"

One initiate whispered to the other, "If she gets shot so easily, then how is she good enough to be on Maximum's team?"

My eyes flared, "Riley, take the hostages to the holding cells to cool off."

"Max," he said slowly, "The newb didn't mean any harm."

"Holy crap, is that a _snake_ mutant? We all know how I'm deathly afraid of reptiles, so that's definitely why I'm leaving the room right now," M&M lied and quickly left.

"Riley, that was an order," I hissed. I had just had a stressful day, and some initiate doesn't disrespect my team members.

"Alright," Riley sighed and yanked Omega to the door. Thunder and Whisper assisted him and Maya headed off to the infirmary.

"I uh…have to go do something for Caverly," all of the rest of the senior assassin left, leaving me with the initiates.

"Who said that disrespect towards my team?" I asked pleasantly, even though I knew perfectly well who had said it. My gaze never landed on the boy I knew had did it, and he never confessed.

"Do you want to know why Maya gets shot all the time?" I got up close to the initiate and threw him down the ground, "It's because she takes hits for everyone on the team. Today, Omega thought that he was shooting me. Maya got shot instead. You know what would have happened had _I_ been shot? From my vulnerable state, I would have died. Now, you're going to be taking a lot of hits for everyone in the class."

I began to withdraw Thundershot, but a gentle hand on mine stopped me.

It was the girl I had first noticed, Shimmer. Her black hair fell over half her face and but her one visible eye pierced me.

"Maximum, you are very on edge now. If you do anything to Travis, you will regret it. I believe a simple apology from him will suffice. Right Travis?" her golden eyes never left mine, but I felt that she was holding back her power. Her energy was all blocked up. I wonder what her power was…

"Yes, Shimmer! I am very sorry that I disrespected your teammate, Maximum!" he said quickly and nervously. We didn't need people like him in Airhunter. People like Shimmer, however, would be useful.

"Coward," I spat under my breath but released Thundershot from my grip, "Thanks Shimmer."

"No problem," she smiled and stepped back into the line of initiates. I stepped back also and analyzed the lot of them. They all looked agile and fit and more than one already showed off war wounds.

"You'll fit right in. Shimmer already has proved herself to be brave and calculating. The rest of you had better step up your game. I look forward to seeing _all_ of your training," I said calmly, "Dismissed. Except for you, Shimmer."

The initiates orderly marched out the room and before the door closed, broke out into excited whispers. I rolled my eyes at their antics.

"What can you do, Shimmer?" I closed my eyes and rubbed my shoulder that had begun to ache.

She hesitated, and I immediately knew that she would hide something from me,"If I can see the eyes of my target, I can control their mind."

I fought to keep my breathing controlled, "Did you control me, Shimmer?"

"No. You need to make your own decisions, but I felt that I could prevent unneeded conflict by stopping you," she said, as calm as me.

"Have you had any training before this?" I interrogated her.

"No. Not before this," she seemed to be smirking at some secret I didn't know.

"I have no time for an initiate's games. If you ever have a problem or need a place to sit at lunch, though, come to me. I think we might get along well."

What was I doing? Getting along with an initiate? I don't let myself get involved. Oh well, I'm Maximum Ride. I can be friends with whomever I choose. We were all initiates once. Well, I wasn't, but I was a special case.

"Yes Maximum," she smiled simply, "But may I suggest one thing?"

"Go ahead," I invited. All of the things she's said so far have been helpful.

"Get some rest before you interrogate Omega. You'll need to be on your feet," she sighed, "May I be dismissed now?"

"You are dismissed," I nodded and she exited the room, her black hair swishing behind her. Oh, she'd forgotten something. It was a page out of a notebook. A small drawing of…

Me. She'd drawn me surrounded by several other people. Dylan's arm was slung around my shoulder and I was reading a book to two small girls, a girl that looked like Iggy, and Shimmer herself. She had drawn me in such perfect detailing that we must have met before. I'd ask her later.

Wait...how did she knew Dylan and Iggy? How did she know that I'd be interrogating Omega?

I folded the piece of paper in my hands and walked out of the lobby. Once in the hallway, I saw Cara. She was in charge of the new initiates.

"Hey Cara!" I waved her over, "I need data on a new recruit!"

"Of course," she brought out a small data pod, "What's the name?"  
"Shimmer. She has black hair and golden eyes." I told her. Cara's eyebrows furrowed.

"I'm sorry Maximum, but we have no recruits or agents by that name," she said before walking away. I opened my hand to look at the picture once again. Shimmer's face looked back at me, calm but with a slight twinkle in her eye.

This mystery would have to wait. Omega was waiting in a holding cell and ready to be interrogated.

But first I'd have to rest first. I had to be on my feet.


	10. Chapter 10

Three hours later, I stepped into the interrogation room. Omega had been placed in one of our sensory deprivation cells. These cells make the prisoner anxious. It is bathed in complete darkness so that not even one with enhanced sight can see. It does not carry any sound. It doesn't smell like anything. The only indicator that you're still alive is the room temperature bench that they are placed on.

I opened the door and turned one of the lights.

"Stand," I barked. He stayed silent as he complied. A few hours in the cells always make the prisoner more agreeable.

"Where is Ella Martinez?" I sat down in a small chair.

Omega stayed soundless.

"Don't make me bring pain into this, Omega," I said pleasantly. Shimmer was right. I had the upper hand because I had a clear head, and he thankfully did not. He still remained mute.

I slapped him.

"Shit," he cursed and he held his bright red cheek, "God Ride, you hit hard."

"I'm an assassin. That's kind of obvious. Where is Ella Martinez?" I asked him coolly, "Or do I need to make you really hurt?"

"She's where all of the rest go," he smirked, "I answered your question."

My eyes narrowed, "And where might that be?"

"A building," he answered. He was playing with me now.

"Hypothermia," I decided and walked out the door. I knew what had to be done, and I sure as hell wasn't going to be undressing him. I saw a boy who was my age and had just passed initiation. He was taking the first tour now.

"You!" I barked, "Come here!"

The boy looked over his shoulder and looked at me questioningly, as if wondering who I was talking to. I pointed to him, annoyed.

"Okay," he shrugged and walked up to me. He stuck out his hand, "I'm Luke."

"Maximum," I introduced myself, "I have a job for you."

He looked around at where we were. In this part of the facility, no job was favorable, "Sure,"

I raised an eyebrow, "That's it? You're not even going to question me?"

"No," he shoved his hands in his pockets, "I've taken to not refusing pretty girls."

"I'm taken," I informed him.

"Doesn't really matter to me," He shrugged, "What do you need me to do?"

"I need you to prepare Omega for hypothermia," I told him stiffly before walking away. A blush had crept into my cheeks when he'd callen me pretty. An angry blush, I clarified to myself. I had a boyfriend. I had Riley. I prayed to whoever's up there that Riley didn't see my blush.

Something felt wrong. Years of listening to my instincts made me turn back around to find Luke again. What was I thinking, sending an initiate to prepare an A Level opponent?


	11. Chapter 11

My voice was deadly quiet as I stared at the Luke, "You're saying that…you let…Omega, the man we've been hunting for years…escape?"

Luke's icy blue eyes were strong as he looked at me, though his body language was submissive, "Yes, ma'am."

"How did this hap-" my words halted as I gasped and fell back against the wall. It was as if someone has punched me in the stomach. I couldn't breathe. Black spots danced along my visions and I couldn't hear anything but a faint ringing.

_Max,_ Riley's voice whispered softly inside my head, _Max, I love you._

I was hallucinating. The black spots crowded my vision now. The ringing sound was hurting my head. Riley was whispering to me, but now I couldn't hear the words. Where was he? I could hear him, but I couldn't see him. Did I have my walkie talkie on me?

_Be happy_, I made out from the stream of his pleas, and everything but his voice faded away. I wasn't angry. I wasn't in pain. I wasn't anything. I just felt…hollow. Fitting, because I wasn't exactly aware of anything. Was I dead? Or was I just sleeping?

A different voice interrupted Riley. It was the Voice, _Max, Omega's left a present outside for you._

_Max, Max, Max, Max, Max. You have to get up. Get up. _I needed to get up? That must mean that I'm only asleep.

"Max, you have to wake up!" a young girl's voice cried out as I was shaken violently. Something wet appeared on my face and my eyes snapped open. I registered curly blond hair and green eyes before I slapped her in the face.

"Pull yourself together, Thunder," I ordered and stood up, using the wall to support myself. I checked myself for injuries, but could find nothing that could explain why I fainted. I could hear agonized screaming and flames licked at the walls.

"What happened?" I asked in shock. The last I remembered, everything had been normal. I'd been reprimanding Luke for letting Omega escape when I'd passed out. A glance at the clock told me that'd been fifteen minutes ago.

"Omega escaped after planting a bomb in the upper levels," Luke informed me, "We have to get out of here."

I covered my mouth with the sleeve to my gray sweatshirt to prevent me from inhaling any of the smoke. Something about that wasn't right. Omega couldn't have gotten to the upper levels in fifteen minutes unless he used the elevator, but then he would've been seen. He must've had someone working for him inside the building. But that wasn't important right now.

"Luke, you need to help me get people out of here," I ordered. He gave me one swift nod and sprinted towards the nearest sound of life. I remembered what The Voice had told me. Omega had left a present for me. Omega was such a self righteous, obnoxious show off that I already knew exactly what –or who- it was.

"Thunder, your sister is waiting for you outside," I informed her, "Make it rain."

"Storm?" Thunder looked at me in tearful joy. She'd been under my command so long that she no longer even needed to double check what I told her. My word was law. When I nodded, she took off sprinting outside as well.

I was used to working in a crisis. Luke might be able to take two people outside at a time. We were in the underground levels, so he'd have to carry them. Thankfully, there wouldn't be that many people down here since these were off limits to most. The bomb went off in the top levels, though Omega escaped right before that, so the building would be on lockdown. That would mean that all the windows would be locked, so…

Everyone, including the Flock, was trapped inside. Knowing what I ahd to do, I rushed to the ground level, burst through the door that had been forced open, and let out my wings. Taking advantage of a strong burst of wind, I soared up to the top floor, which had kids faces pressed to the window. This was where our small kids were taught to fly. All of them had to be five, tops. They looked weak and almost dead.

Taking my lead, several other able bodied Avian Americans had followed me up. I looked around at the unfamiliar faces and yelled, "Break the windows with whatever means necessary!"

A strong, ox like boy flew into a window three floors down from me. Glass shattered and rained down and smoke wafted out. Several people screamed in joy as a Flock of bird kids flew out the new exit. They did a few flips of freedom and flew down.

"Just like that?" a girl that looked like a mix between a human, hawk, and fox asked. Her inquisitive eyes hardened with determination and without any encouragement, she latched onto the top window and cut through the glass with her fox claws. The kindergarteners barely reacted as the window was broken. They were half dead already.

I swooped into the burning building and handed two of the limp children to the fox girl.

"I can handle a couple more," she protested. I nodded and gave her another child. She disappeared from sight and I looked down at the ground. A crowd of mutants had gathered there and had spread out a tarp of fabric, ready to catch any mutants that can't fly.

"Good thinking," I laughed to myself and threw the children out the building. We don't break easily, so they'll be fine. I'm more concerned with people dying from the fire and smoke.

I flew out and saw that the mutants I'd left outside weren't having any more luck with getting the windows open. Someone tapped me on the shoulder and I spun around. I bit my tongue and tasted blood as I saw who it was.

"Storm," I said in surprise, "You look exactly the same."

She did. Thunder's sister looked extremely different than Thunder, but blood tests had proven that they were sisters. Storm had natural electric blue hair, pale skin, several facial piercings, and dark blue eyes. Her wings were as black as night, as were her clothes.

"Good to see you, Boss," Storm said, a bit breathless. She looked kind of weak and thin, but spirited none the less, "It looks like you could use some help."

"Rain would be nice," I agreed, wondering why that wasn't already happening.

"That's not possible right now," she grimaced, "I might've…lost that power. I'll tell you later, but right now, I have work to do."

Lost her power? Was that even possible? "Do you still have your electricity?"

Like Thunder, Storm had the power to manipulate electricity. Thunder's power was limited to technology, though, while Storm's was for attacks.

"Hell yeah," Storm grinned and held out her hands. White and blue lightning came out from her palms and hit the windows, shattering them. Storm broke all of the windows on our side of the building, to my amazement. Mutants poured out in streams. She'd gotten stronger. A lot stronger. Three familiar shapes flew towards me.

"Woah," Storm gripped her heads and tilted sideways. She seemed to just faint. Her eyes closed, her expression softened, and her wings stopped moving. Storm fell like a rock and I dove down.

I reached out and grabbed her arm, which only made us both fall. Useless. What's the point of being a hero if you're not alive?

"I've got you, Max," Iggy assured me as he grabbed hold of my elbow and let open his wings, acting like a parachute for us. Gazzy took Storm's other arm so that the weight was less and Angel acted as a communicator between us and the ground.

"We need to hide our wings right away," Angel informed us, "So the firefighters don't question anything. They've been alerted that this was a government facility, so they won't be surprised by anything we had in there."

"Thanks, guys," I said, before realizing that I was actually letting some warmth leak into my tone. I remedied that, "This is Storm. I'll let you guys meet later."

We hit the ground and immediately pulled in our wings. Iggy backed the others away from me and I sent him a grateful look before turning all of my attention to Storm. Her skin was unnaturally pale, like she hadn't seen the sun in years, but she was alive. I'm glad she hadn't died on me. I peeled off her black leather jacket and bit my lip at what I saw. Whip marks lined her back and her arms were covered in white dots, scars from numerous testing. As gentle as a mother to a child, I folded in Storm's wings and wrapped her in my own softer sweatshirt. I smiled unconsciously and lifted her into my arms.

"What happened to her?" Angel asked in horror. Storm mumbled in her sleep and I shot Angel a glare, though I knew the glare was nowhere near what it could be.

"This is what we fight against," I told her, the only answer I could really give. I could hear sirens in the distance and I sighed as I looked at Airhunter's base. Years of work, gone down the drain.

"Wait," the blood drained from my face as a wave of premonition hit me, "Where's Riley?"


	12. Chapter 12

I sat on the ground. Someone had wrapped a blanket around me and placed a warm drink in my hands. I took a sip, hoping that no one had thought to poison it. Hot chocolate. Storm's body was against me, her head in my lap. She looked so innocent, so unlike the tough Storm that I had known. She had grown weak, and so had I.

"Riley wasn't in there," Maya informed me blankly, scrambling in under the blanket with me, "I checked."

We both just stared at the building. Itex definitely knows where we are. It would be too risky to keep using the same location. We'd have to move everything. We'd have to completely start over.

While we started over, Riley would be living life as a prisoner or experiment. He would have to wait until we got our lives back together.

Itex would only get stronger the longer we waited.

"We need more people," I said wistfully, to no one in particular. If our whole base couldn't prevent this, then we needed more numbers and we needed to train them well. We couldn't be picky.

"It's good that you think that," Maya laughed nervously, "Because I kind of…signed you up to train newbies. Your trainees arrived five minutes ago. I held them off, but…"

"They want to meet me," I guessed tiredly. I hadn't expected this, but I _had_ just wished for it, hadn't I? "Bring them."

"Yes, Boss," Maya used Thunder's nickname for me as she left, soon returning with two very different looking mutants.

I held out my hand to Maya, "Give me their papers."

"They don't have any," Maya told me tensely, probably wondering the same thing as me. _Why?_

I turned as much as I could without disturbing Storm to face the toughest looking mutant, "Tell me about your escape from the School."

"Two days ago. Some idiot broke in, left with some mutant with red hair named Lissa, and left all the doors open. A bunch of us left. Your twin came and picked me and this girl up."

"I'm Luna," the girl offered and I took in her appearance. Light blond hair in a ponytail. Pale skin. Blue eyes. Looked kind of ditzy.

I eyed Maya critically, "Why did I not hear of this mission?"

"You were busy with Omega," Maya played with the fringe of her long sleeved pink shirt.

"I should've been notified," I harrumphed before turning my attention back to the boy. Introductions were often brusque and businesslike.

"Name?" I requested. This mutant, I thought, I could get along with just fine. He seemed respectful and powerful.

"Ripjaw," he said without a touch of amusement. I could see where the name came from. Along his jawline and mouth, he had many painful looking scars. Ripjaw also had closely cropped blond hair.

"Powers?"

"I can make people see things," Luna smiled. Not a ditz, I corrected myself, more of an incurable optimist. She was useful.

"You're an illusionist?" I raised my eyebrow. She didn't look it, "Demonstrate."

Luna closed her eyes, concentrated for a bit, and swirled her hands in the air. The area around me suddenly changed shape. I was in the School, in a cage. In the corner was a dark figure. Riley?

I was brought back to real life, unsettled.

Luna peered at me curiously, "What did you see? I don't think it's fair that I don't get to see what I can do. People just see things that they want to see."

She _was_ an illusionist, though untrained. I'll teach her in the nightmare arts soon.

"And you?" I nodded at Ripjaw. He bared a mouth full of sharp, lethal teeth at me and snapped.

I nodded, "We'll need to go shopping later for all of my team. As you can see, we've been attacked. Have you been brought up to date on the facility?"

"Yes, ma'am," Ripjaw nodded to me. Good.

I whipped out my gun and, still sitting, I shot two bullets at each of their heads. With lightning fast reflexes, they both dodged and the bullets hit the Airhunter building with a light _chink._

"What was that for?" Luna demanded, seemingly bewildered. My impression of her reverted to her being ditzy.

"I was testing you," I shrugged.

"What idiot came up with that idea?" she asked irritably. Ripjaw sent her a warning glance. Smart boy.

I looked down on her, "Riley did."`

"Riley is a person in our team. He was just recently kidnapped. He's…also Max's boyfriend." Maya explained, hesitant on sharing that last part.

"This team must suck," Luna wrinkled her nose in distaste.

Storm had woken up, risen from her sleep by the shooting, "Airhunter was created just to help Max with her goal. Itex is powerful. This is the best team we have, but…there aren't enough of us."

"That's Storm, one of our best fighters," Maya introduced them, "Storm, these are some new recruits."

"What do you bring to the table?" Ripjaw asked Maya curiously, though still managing nonchalance.

"Maya is a powerful fighter, smart, my second in command, and would be in charge of her own team if she hadn't chosen to stay with me," I answered, "Storm, bring them up to date on everything."

"Everything?" she checked, looking at me in disbelief. I usually wasn't this warm to recruits. I almost always immediately hated them.

"Everything," I sighed.


	13. Adopted by The Shadows of old

**Hey guys. This is an author's note, I'm sad to say. Well, it's an author's note bearing news of an update. In other news, that update will NOT be by me. **

**I let this story slip off my list of priorities, and let it fall into ruin, collecting dust in the bins of my fanfiction drawer. Someone (a very brave, and patient someone, who dealt with my stupid laziness) called me out on it, and now they're going to take over this story.**

**So, if someone magically stumbles upon this update long after I post it, or if you've been a dedicated follower that loves this story, I can just let you know that it'll be up and running on ****The shadows of old's**** profile shortly, if it isn't already.**

**Without Further Adieu,**

**well...I guess there's nothing after that. Wow. I didn't realize I'd need a new signoff. Um...**

**Signing off,**

**Metal Flowers**

**P.S. if you see a story that hasn't been updated in awhile (except Healing Hearts, any Avenger's fanfic, and Maya and Omega's story. Those are mine) feel free to shoot me a private message, either telling me to get my ass in gear, or asking to adopt it. If you ask to adopt, chances are, I'll say yes. So, adopt away. Just ask me first.**


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